Secret Agent Party May 2014

For Brennen's 7th birthday I talked him into a secret agent party.  This was something I know was right up my ally. I made the cake in the morning to which I am claiming as an epic fail.  It is very frustrating when you think you have certain supplies only to find out they are lost, ruined, or all gone courtesy of your very craft child. So I had to settle but oh well it still tasted fine.

This party was a little closer to my $50 budget but still under so that makes me happy.  It did take a little bit of planning and preparation ahead of time.  And by that I mean about an hour before the party started I set things up.

The invitations

When our guests first arrived we had to "scan" them to be sure they could enter our secure facility.

As we were waiting for people to arrive I had them all make their ID's and receive their official eye wear.

 The first training exercise was the art of disguise.  As you know a spy must be an expert in disguising himself to blend in.  For this I had 2 suitcases filled with different articles from the dress ups.  I split the group in 2 teams and we did the race where everyone must put on 3 items from the suitcases and run back to tag their teammate.  The first group to get through all their trainees won.  After this I handed out mustaches to everyone showing they passes this training exercise.

 Next we honed their shooting skills.  I set up 2 life sized targets with 2 Nerf guns.  They had to hit the bulls eye within their 3 allotted shots.  After a few practice rounds and the final exam they got their weapons.
I found some squirt guns that when spray painted black looked just like the real thing. (only smaller) the boys were more than happy to receive these.

 The favorite training session was the lasers.  I strung red curling ribbon up, down, over, under, and across my canning kitchen downstairs.  I then turned off all the lights and set flashing lights around.  They had to make it to one side and flip the switch (light switch) to deactivate the bombs (the flashing lights) then make it back safely without touching any of the lasers.  I had a little device buzz when they touched one of the lasers. In reality the kids could have done this game over and over again. I let everyone do it twice.

After the lasers it was time to put their smarts to test.  I placed a bunch of these bags all around outside with clues inside them to see how well they could decipher the clues and find the stolen jewels.  The first bag had sand in it.  So the headed to the sandbox.  There they found an apple which led them to the orchard and so on and so forth to where they were finally lead to the jewels hiding place. (I found the jewels in the Easter clearance)

Last skill of all was to cut the correct wire to the bomb.  I had each kid do a small obstacle course to get to the bomb (a pinata) and "cut" (pull) the correct wire.  This actually worked out perfectly because everyone got to pull a wire before it went off.  It was a really fun birthday party.  One I wouldn't mind doing again someday.  The only thing I might change would be to get rid of the birthday kids siblings before the party.  It really doesn't matter how many times we talk about it or prepare my children there is always one that turns into a green eyes monster.

William the hip hopper May 2014

 I signed William up for a Hip Hop class this year hoping against hope that one of my children would love dance.  He was quite reluctant at first, it was different and so it didn't come easy to him but I had him stick it out.  As the weeks went by he got a little better and didn't complain so much. The time of the recital came and he was actually stoked.  He practiced hard and was ready to show us what he learned.  Sadly I only got part of it on video, even with a backup.  I  was using my iphone and Scott had the camera.  My stupid iphone didn't have enough memory left (A major flaw in the iphone by the way) and apparently Scott accidentally hit the wrong button during recording.  I wish I had gotten it all because he was so proud of himself.  After the recital he begged me to sign him up for the next session.  I was really happy with this announcement, and best of all Scott is completely supportive of my efforts to try to culture my boys.